


A Change Of Pace

by skol



Series: Changes [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Fluff, Gay Male Character, M/M, Queer Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24855376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skol/pseuds/skol
Summary: After a few years of light foot traffic and average deliveries, Gideon Grey's Real Good Baked Stuff would receive orders from out in Zootopia, which he had to decline. Building up the courage to move locations, he would coast easily; for a little bit, at least.
Relationships: Bobby Catmull/Gideon Grey
Series: Changes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798426
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	A Change Of Pace

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So a large part of the summary is more like preceding information than a summary, and I apologize for that, so I'd highly recommend reading it if you haven't by now since scrolling down.
> 
> Sorry if my writing isn't all too good, I'm still new to English and using this as a sort of test of my writing capabilities.
> 
> If you enjoy, please leave a kudos or comments on how I can improve! That way, I can continue the story faster.

Exiting the Hopps home after a hearty chat with his now former business partners, as he was a day away from moving out, of course Bonnie and Stu wouldn't let him get away without a goodbye hug. "Ah jeez, I'm tearin' up!" said the husband, leaning into Gideon a bit. His relationship with the Hopps family had only kept improving since they partnered up, soon becoming a sort of son to them, or at least a nephew. Gideon chuckled softly at the older man's exclamation, and pulled away from them.

"Well uh, goodbyes are never easy fer anyone. I'll be home fer the holidays soon enough. I love y'all." He beamed and squinted a bit as he walked away, the sun blaring in his vulpine eyes.The happy couple waved Gideon away as he got into the Zuber he called beforehand, rolling down the window. As they drove away, the bunny family's door swung wide open, letting out a hoard of happy family members, children to young adults, waving him goodbye. The fox felt his face heat up and his eyes water. "Look who's crying now!" he yelled out of the window, the driver simply scoffing and keeping his eyes on the road, despite his many distractions.

*

After a short trip to the center of town where the baker resided, Gideon hopped out of the car and smacked the top of the car twice as a sign to leave, Gideon promptly remembering it was not in fact a taxi, and backed away. In an instant, the sheep driver looked away from his phone and shot him a look. Small town politeness only did so much after you were known as the school bully from K-12, regardless if he could bake a mean pie. The driver looked back to his phone and drove off shortly thereafter. 

"It's just some guy," he thought to himself, "nothing he can do to hurt you." Walking upstairs on the outside steps of the building to his apartment, he sighed, as he knew what would come next. As he walked in to his now barren apartment, he couldn't do anything but just look around. He had lived here for all his life, only ever once leaving to Podunk for a brief yet unremarkable date. 

Absorbing the white walls and sterile apartment before him, he only had one thing left to do; leave. The bakery had been dealt with prior, after all.

Grabbing his suitcases, the fox made his way out, leaving his keys to the place on the built-in just by the door. He wanted to call another Zuber, but hotel rooms and rent weren't cheap, at least for the place to match Gideon's tastes. Instead he simply walked to the train station.

Unlike the well known Judy Hopps' dreamlike experience of riding the train into Zootopia, Gideon's would be a bit more realistic, as he found it cheaper to take the Zootopia Express on its last trip for the night. It was summer, so the air was relatively cool out as he waited. Sitting on a bench underneath the station's canopy, he pulled some tofu jerky from his knapsack and had his quote unquote dinner. Obviously it didn't taste like the real thing, though also didn't know what it tasted like in the first place, so no harm done.

By the time the train arrived, it was 9:02 P.M., maybe one or two mammals getting off. Sitting down in his assigned seat after having put his luggage in the compartment above, Gideon reached into his overall's stomach pocket for his headphones and put on a bit of music for himself. "Puppy Princess by Hot Freaks..." he mumbled to nobody in particular. The song always confused him. The album art showed a giraffe, but the song was named Puppy Princess, and in the song the singer called himself a bunny? He wouldn't dwell on it any further, pressing play and shutting his eyes, leaning against the window as the train's door shut and set off.

*

Gideon slept most of the hour long ride into the city, waking up a few minutes before the train stopped to catch his barings and be ready to leave. Once his eyes adjusted after a thorough rubbing and taking out his headphones, he was shocked to see a rather large cheetah on the seat beside him. He gasped a bit, before covering his mouth with his paws, not wanting to wake anyone. The big cat looked to his left and saw the bewildered fox, and gave him a toothy grin. "Sorry if I woke ya, we're almost here. Guess it's for the best anyways." He gave a small chuckle, the fox subsiding his worry and moving his paws back down to his side. 

Just then, the intercom came on, with a brief yet helpful announcement. "Hello citizens and visitors of Zootopia, we will now be pulling into City Center Station, Platform 1. We hope you enjoy your evening!" it yelled, waking up anybody who may have been asleep. Surely enough, the train's brakes went off and it came to a stop, doors sliding open with a thump. The cheetah beside him got up, seeming ecstatic to get off. Grabbing his luggage from above, darting out in a blink of an eye. 'Good for him.' Gideon thought, feeling his cheeks get hot again. 

Once out on the platform itself, he could only see businesses close and lights go out, apart from those late-nighters. The vulpine was far from that, and already wanting to fall back asleep.

*

Getting out from the subway and up to the streets above, Gideon finally took in his surroundings - sure, it was just a city, but it meant something new, a change of pace. Bunnyburrow, as polite it may have seemed on the surface, wasn't all for his kind, in basically every way. Being a predator was one thing, but a fox too? A queer one at that? He could only feel excluded, no matter how welcoming a family like the Hopps could've been. According to that play that changed how he was seen for the rest of his life, on Zootopia, anyone can be anything. I guess he'd put that to the test.

Not wanting to get too thoughtful, he made his way to the hotel on foot. The walk was brief but taxing, what with so much to lug around. Checking in was easy too, but what was not expected was the rather interesting state of his hotel room. When he absentmindedly turned the key, he hadn't noticed the do-not-disturb on it. Opening the door wide and rather loudly he watched a figure in the bed jerk upright and turn on the lamp on the bedside table. Both seemed rather shocked to see each other.

"...Gid?" The now visible cougar sat upright dumbfounded, with a bit of a tremor to his voice. The fox didn't really know what to other than just stare bug-eyed back at him, his face going red rather quickly. Gideon thought the obvious things, 'Who is this? Why is he in my room? How did he know ma name?" After a few seconds of staring, the vulpine acted as though he recognised him in the first place. "Hey... I can't seem to remember yer name, 's seemed to slip ma mind." He walked in a bit more, setting his luggage down just next to the door to keep it open in case this was something bigger than he knew.

"Robert Catmull, most people called me Bobby though." The big cat said it with an err of caution to his voice, as well as a hearty amount of drowsiness. He reached to grab his glasses from the nightstand. Gideon dawned a light pink graphic tee with some kind of band logo on it, an open light-blue plaid shirt, and some bootcut jeans. The realization of how weird this all ways set in, prompting to Bobby to ask the important question of, "Why are you in my hotel room? In Zootopia?" He tilted his head to the left and reached on the ground by his bed to put on some sweatpants and get up.

Bobby had grown to be quite a bit bigger than the fox, them not having seen each other since maybe the fifth grade, the cougar's southern drawl entirely gone, the two of them taking everything in before Gideon spoke once more. “This was the room I bought fer maself maybe two er three weeks ago.” He wasn’t lying that was the simple truth. Bobby quickly retorted, saying that, “I rented this room just tonight and they told me it was vacant until tomorrow.” The cougar now standing had begun walking toward Gideon, their true size difference setting in, a far different experience from back when they saw each other nearly every weekday. Gideon scratches the back of his neck with one paw as he fished his phone from the other, pulling up the email receipt, which did in fact state that Gideon didn’t have a room until tomorrow. Stroke of luck, I suppose.

“I mean I’m not gonna deprive of you of at least a room to sleep in dude, but I’m not getting out.” The cougar held his ground, standing over the fox, imagining he was still as cruel as he was all those years ago, despite his very obvious signs of having changed. To his surprise, Gideon responded with a small shocked expression, saying “Oh! Uh... well I thank ya kindly. Is there anywhere ya want me to stay in the room or...” Gideon didn’t really know what to say after that, waiting for a response and twiddling his fingers. A little bit confused at the fox’s reaction, gave him the least suspected response of “I don’t care really, share the bed if you’d like.”

It was less of the words itself but the lack of tone in his voice that made the sentence so jarring. This wasn’t something the vulpine would’ve preferred to do with just about anyone he didn’t know, but wasn’t about to say no. Spluttering a bit and moving his suitcases properly inside, changing into a massive Winnie the Pooh shirt and a similar pair light-blue flannel pajama bottoms. By this point, Bobby had already crawled back into bed, waiting for the other to get in with him. Gideon wasn’t so quick to commit so instead just laid on top of the covers on the opposite side of the bed. The cougar sighed and took off his glasses turning off the light, as if to say he wanted more than that. Neither of them were awake for much longer.

*

The next morning, Bobby awoke to find a certain fox doing something he certainly never thought someone of his kind would do; snuggling up against him. Not wanting to ruin it, as he couldn’t complain with the comfort of someone next to him, he found himself not moving until the other woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for getting this far! As for now, I’m still conceptualizing what the next part of the story will be, and will take place directly after this one.
> 
> And remember, if you enjoyed and want to see more quicker, leave a kudos or a comment on how I can do better and your ideas of how I should progress.


End file.
